La Liga given all-clear to resume season after three-month break

Spanish football’s top flight can return to action from 8 June after being disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, prime minister Pedro Sánchez said on Saturday.

All organised football in the country was provisionally suspended on 12 March, although clubs in the top two divisions have since returned to group training. La Liga has yet to officially confirm a date on which it will resume, although president Javier Tebas had said previously he hoped the season could do so from 12 June.

“Spain has done what it needed to do and now new horizons can open for everyone. The time has come to recover many of our daily activities. From 8 June, La Liga will be able to return,” said Sánchez. “Spanish football has a huge following but it will not be the only recreation activity that will return.”

Spain is one of the countries worst-affected by the outbreak, with more than 28,000 deaths and more than 234,000 cases of infection diagnosed. But the daily death toll has been steadily declining, with 56 deaths registered on Friday. Spain has also begun to relax one of Europe’s strictest lockdowns, with the provinces of Madrid and Barcelona set to allow gatherings of up to 10 people from Monday as they move into the first phase of a de-escalation.